NASA officials warned that Earth is likely to face more solar storms through 2012 and 2013 as the sun goes through an increasing state of activity.

Solar storms or coronal mass ejection, are large energy release of radiation and burning gases from the Sun's surface. The radiation expands to space and reaches Earth's atmosphere. A large enough CME could cause magnetic storms on Earth that can knock off the power grid line and damage electronics, GPS and cell signals.

The Sun often ejects billions of tons of hot plasma but the next few years will see a larger increase of activity in the Sun. Solar activity waxes and wanes in 11-year cycles and the cycle is about to reach a peak around 2013.

The Earth is expected to ride through multiple CMEs between December 28 and 31 after the Sun created a huge solar flare on Christmas day. The CME hit Earth on Wednesday and is expected to produce unprecedented auroras.

"There's a 20-40 percent chance of geomagnetic storms!" tweeted NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory team on Wednesday. "If you live at a high latitude, look out for #auroras today."

Larger flares and CMEs are pushing the Northern Lights further south which means a greater number of stargazers will be able to see the phenomenon.

NASA officials are downplaying fears about the increase in solar storm activity saying they have been prepared for such a scenario. They did say that today's technological society will present challenges should a massive solar storm hit Earth.

"A similar storm today might knock us for a loop," said Lika Guhathakurta, a solar physicist at NASA headquarters. "Modern society depends on high-tech systems such as smart power grids, GPS, and satellite communications-all of which are vulnerable to solar storms."

NASA officials say they are coordinating with companies maintaining electric grids and other major systems that could be impacted by CMEs.

"We can now track the progress of solar storms in 3 dimensions as the storms bear down on Earth," said Michael Hesse, chief of the GSFC Space Weather Lab. "This sets the stage for actionable space weather alerts that could preserve power grids and other high-tech assets during extreme periods of solar activity."

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